Gladiator, a historical writing by Richard Ross Watkins, starts by introducing the First of the Gladiators and its origins in the Roman Empire. The Gladiators, first named Bustiarii, started in 264 B.C., in the Roman Empire, when a fight to the death of slaves was arranged during the funeral of Junius Brutus, which was claimed to be a sacrifice to the gods. After this special arrangement, many other rich and powerful men organized events similar to this, because it showed their wealth, political power, and high social status. In addition, it was proved that many people enjoyed watching these scenes as part of the audience. This custom grew in popularity as more and more people created these events to honor the dead and please the gods. Julius Caesar, a powerful man notable for hosting these events in the Roman Empire, entertained many by displaying gladiator fights. Soon, these events no longer had anything to do with religion or funerals, and were merely used for entertainment and to show off one’s political status. Around seven hundred years later, however, this tradition and the Roman Empire altogether started to decline, with the spread of Christianity and the diminishing power of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was troubled by overpopulation and invaders outside its borders, while a new religion, Christianity, started to spread. These gladiator fights were deemed to be brutal and vulgar, and Christians preached peace and love.
While Christian values spread in the Roman Empire, the community gradually changed from liking Gladiator fights to other forms of entertainment, such as chariot racing, theater performances, and religious ceremonies. The popularity of Gladiator fights declined as other forms of entertainment increased in the Roman Empire. With aid from the spread of Christianity, other forms of entertainment quickly became popular, especially after Emperor Honorius banned Gladiator fights. For instance, Circus Maximus, one of the largest Rome hippodromes, hosted many popular chariot races and acted as an arena for many people of Roman society. Different from gladiator fights, which were brutal and savage, these chariot races also expressed the same amount of intense racing for the audience, while not being brutal at the same time. As more people started to follow Christianity, the popularity of Gladiator fights declined greatly. Saint Augustine, a respected follower of God, narrated a story of a young Christian who witnessed a Gladiator fight. While narrating this story, Saint Augustine expresses the cruel nature of Gladiator fights, claiming it to be brutal and contrary to the teachings of Christ: “But he, shutting up the doors of his eyes, forbade his mind to roam abroad after such naughtiness; and would that he had shut his ears also!” Other than Chariot races, theater performances became more popular as Christianity became the main religion of the Roman Empire, during Emperor Constantine’s rule. The spread of Christianity led to the increase of Christian plays, and also religious festivals or celebrations, such as Christmas, Easter, Good Wednesday, and much more. Throughout the spread of Christianity, other forms of entertainment quickly became popular, and shifted the community’s interests away from Gladiator fights.
The rise and spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire also affected the popularity of Gladiator fights, as it was wrong to perform brutal acts like these for entertainment, following the Christian religion. As Christianity started to get more and more popular in the Roman Empire, Gladiator fights had lost their own popularity, due to its sinful manners and brutal acts. In the Christian religion, many leaders and people viewed gladiator fights as contradictory to the moral values of Christianity. In other words, Christianity, which was growing increasingly popular, shared the teachings of loving others and God as much as one loved oneself. This belief contradicted the acts in Gladiator fights, which involved at least one death each time. The Ten Commandments, which are respected and followed by people of many religions, including Christians, were laws that God created in order to help people understand how to love God and live with everyone around them. While all Ten Commandments were important for Christians, some of them, such as: “Thou shall not kill”, “Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor”, and “Thou shall not covet” (Wikipedia, The Ten Commandments) all contradict the nature of the acts in Gladiator fights. In addition, as these Gladiator fights weren’t even related to funerals or religion anymore, but instead, used as entertainment, they were not supported in Christianity. As more people started to follow Christianity, the popularity of Gladiator fights declined greatly. Saint Augustine, a respected follower of God, narrated a story of a young Christian who witnessed a Gladiator fight. While narrating this story, Saint Augustine expresses the cruel nature of Gladiator fights, claiming it to be brutal and contrary to the teachings of Christ: “But he, shutting up the doors of his eyes, forbade his mind to roam abroad after such naughtiness; and would that he had shut his ears also!” (Pressbooks). Many other sources of teaching in the Christian religion are contrary to Gladiator fights, so they were naturally unsupported by followers of Christ.
While Christianity continued to spread among the citizens of the Roman Empire, Christian emperors also played crucial roles in the decline of Gladiator fights. One of the most notable and first Christian emperors was Emperor Constantine, who didn’t support these events, contrary to Julius Caesar in the past. Julius Caesar was known for his Gladiator fights, and not only hosted them multiple times in great masses but also used them merely for entertainment, rather than for religious purposes. Emperor Constantine, on the other hand, didn’t immediately outlaw gladiatorial fights, but refused to give funds for them and supported the teachings of Christ. The last chapter of Gladiator, by Richard Ross Watkins, states that: “Christianity gained its more powerful convert in A.D. 312 when the emperor Constantine the Great adopted the faith and declared Christianity the state religion. … This ban, however, was not enforced. Constantine himself allowed several gladiator shows to be given, contradicting his own law. It is proof of the powerful attraction of the games that even a great leader like Constantine could not or would not stop them completely.” (Watkins, 11). While these actions indeed did discourage Gladiator fights but weren’t the most important factor in their decline. The next Christian emperor, Emperor Theodosius I, made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and created policies or laws that reinforced the dangers of brutal practices like gladiatorial combat. However, these fights were still not completely outlawed; they only had stricter policies. Meanwhile, later on, Gladiator fights were completely wiped out during the reign of Emperor Honorius, in 404 A.D. It occurred due to a series of events, when Saint Telemachus, a monk, attempted to stop a gladiatorial fight. However, the enraged audience stoned him to death, and his memorable sacrifice spurred Emperor Honorius to ban Gladiator fights ultimately. All three emperors reinforced the teachings of Christ and opposed the acts of Gladiator fights, which later led to its ultimate decline.
Gladiator, a historical writing by Richard Ross Watkins, starts by introducing the First of the Gladiators and its origins in the Roman Empire. While Christian values spread in the Roman Empire, the community gradually changed from liking Gladiator fights to other forms of entertainment, such as chariot racing, theater performances, and religious ceremonies. The popularity of Gladiator fights declined as other forms of entertainment increased in the Roman Empire. The rise and spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire also affected the popularity of Gladiator fights, as it was wrong to perform brutal acts like these for entertainment, following the Christian religion. As Christianity started to get more and more popular in the Roman Empire, Gladiator fights had lost their own popularity, due to its sinful manners and brutal acts. In the Christian religion, many leaders and people viewed gladiator fights as contradictory to the moral values of Christianity. In other words, Christianity, which was growing increasingly popular, shared the teachings of loving others and God as much as one loved oneself. This belief contradicted the acts in Gladiator fights, which involved at least one death each time. While Christianity continued to spread among the citizens of the Roman Empire, Christian emperors also played crucial roles in the decline of Gladiator fights. Emperor Honorius played an important role in banning Gladiator fights ultimately, 700 years after it started.
Works Cited
Wakins, Richard. “Gladiator”
Wikipedia. “The Ten Commandments”
N/A. “PressBooks”
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